Final Fantasy VI Snippets
by Katchan00
Summary: Collection of shorts inspired by various prompts, just a way to practice writing using some of my favourite subjects. Will likely be heavily Locke and Celes based, but others may appear as inspiration can be quite fickle.
1. Air

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

Random FFVI shorts based on a list of prompts that I began some time ago when I was trying to get back into practice writing, should mainly be Locke and Celes related across the board, but I make no promises. If a prompt ends up inspiring me for a different character of set of characters, I'll probably just roll with it.

- Locke and Celes

- Mid-game, either shortly before the Floating Continent or after Locke has been found in the WoR.

* * *

><p>Prompt: Air<p>

* * *

><p>Locke really didn't like being in the air. It was better than being on a boat in the water, to be sure, but not by much.<p>

Setzer's assurances didn't help matters, for the gambler had a knack for making them sound so condescending... so reproving. As if it were somehow Locke's own fault that he became motion sick.

As if anyone would willingly chose to be so incapacitated.

The fact that he knew of none others among his compatriots who had an issue rankled slightly, but his most pressing concern was to avoid Celes in his piteous state rather than focus on the unfairness of his singular suffering. His pride would never survive the blow if she found out.

Such an attempt at solitude was well underway, his hiding spot meticulously chosen for how difficult it was to locate, when she found him, green to the gills and an expression of horror marring his features when she came into view. He groaned in nausea and shame before pounding his head against the wooden window frame he was clutching like a lifeline.

Clucking her tongue at him as she stepped closer, she grabbed the tails of his bandanna to hold his head still while she ran deft fingers over his brow, the cool tingle of magic removing his hard earned bruise in moments. "Really, Locke," she chided, releasing her hold once he slowly and gently replaced his head against the wooden frame, "hiding? I took you to be more mature than that." She leaned over his shoulder to look at him, amusement tingeing her wry expression.

He tried to glare at her sideways, but his arm blocked most of the venom in his face. "I am not hiding," he argued, emphasizing the last word with derision.

"Oh? It certainly looks that way to me. I think this is pretty much the most out of the way corner in the most unused room on the entire ship." Her smirk became more apparent as she rested a hand on his back, stroking soothingly.

He chose not to focus on whether she was intending to be a balm to his insides or his bruised ego.

"I'm just trying to be ill in peace, thank you very much," he shot back, his tone much aggrieved. There really was nothing left in him to lose, but he certainly felt that his body would try once more at a moment's notice. "I don't do well when I'm not on land," he admitted resentfully.

"Clearly." She hid a chuckle none too adroitly behind her other hand.

Dropping both arms to his sides in defeat, he rolled his head along the windowsill until he faced her fully, letting a hard look settle on his features. "If you're quite done mocking me, I'd love to be able to suffer in private. At least when I'm alone I'm the only person insulting me."

This time she made no efforts to hide her mirth, laughing outright at him. "You are so dramatic. Will you please stop acting like a child?" She rolled her eyes at his set expression. "Setzer finally deigned to tell me that you were getting sick, so I've come to save you from yourself," she admitted. "I should have known that you'd be pouting all alone instead of asking anyone for help."

The final word registered and his eyes lit up in sync with his eyebrows rising. "...what kind of help?"

Settling herself more comfortably on the floor, she gestured for him to relinquish his rigid headrest and face her. With trepidation slowing his movements, he complied. Taking his hands in hers, she gently massaged her thumbs into the pads of his palms in an effort to relax him before leaning in closer.

"Close your eyes, and try to clear your mind," she commanded, her tone businesslike and reminiscent of their first few days together, which seemed like a lifetime ago.

He succeeded in the former, but failed spectacularly at her second order. He was hypersensitive to her movements, and tried not to flinch when her hands left his and settled on his stomach and forehead. He braced himself for the chill of her magic that he guessed would soon be assaulting his senses, but was unprepared for the sense of... wellness. The pain and nausea were flowing out of him like sands from an hourglass. It was nearly unbelievable. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open and he stared at her, she still bore a look of concentration and focus, her eyes nearly fully lidded and her face lit by the slightly green cast of her curative powers emanating from her hands.

"You are an amazing woman, Celes Chere," Locke whispered with relief, taking in a deep breath and letting it out as slowly as he could. It almost felt too good for words after being plagued for so long by nausea and shame.

She made that disapproving clucking noise at him again with her tongue, one he secretly suspected she had used on her soldiers, and rolled her eyes. "Terra can do that just as well as I can, and the rest of you could too, if you'd ever studied seriously with the magicite from the espers that we have... met along our travels." She stood, brushing her legs off as she did so, then reached down a hand to help him up. "Now, can we rejoin the others, or do I have to tell you that we had to similarly assist both Cyan and surprisingly, Sabin, before your pride is assuaged enough to be seen?"

He gaped at her like a fish as she hoisted him to his feet. "Really? Sabin? I swore he didn't get seasick."

She hummed in agreement. "He doesn't. I've sailed with him before. More the curious that he gets airsick. You'd know all this if you didn't vanish every time we lifted off the ground all this time."

Feeling himself to be in much better spirits than he ever would have expected, so far from sweet, solid land, Locke acknowledged her ribbing with a gracious smile and motioned for her to lead the way back to their companions. Falling into step behind her, he cast one last look out the window, 'his' window, and bade it farewell as he took in the absolutely stunning view as the ship cut through the air with ease.


	2. Beginnings

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Locke and Celes

- South Figaro meeting and onward

* * *

><p>Prompt: Beginnings<p>

* * *

><p>Theirs were certainly not lofty beginnings. She, a general accused of treason; he, a rebel and freedom fighter trying to flee the occupied city to return to his friends.<p>

His gut reaction to seeing her in chains was to save her, take her far away from any who would hurt her, but whispering in the back on his mind were useful notations about her known power and perhaps a newfound willingness to help the Returners. If the treason charges were truthful or fallacious… in either case, she may well be willing to help. He tried to focus on that rather than the painful constriction around his heart the first time their eyes met as he snuck into her cell and slipped past the sleeping guard. Usefulness had to outweigh his feelings, however fleeting or not they may prove to be.

She eyed him with curiosity, unsure of whom this stranger coming to her aid could possibly be. Her entire country had forsaken her for daring to view her fellow men as just that, fellow men to be respected, rather than beasts to be put down with poisons, animals to be herded by burning crops and countryside alike. If he was willing to free her, then she could still fight. She could show them all how wrong they were, could maybe even atone for her own past sins, and for any further atrocities her... the Emperor would continue to commit. He was a way out, a way to fight back, and that took precedence over the strange feeling of her heart fluttering in her chest as his fingertips brushed her wrists while he worked the locks.

It was there, but they could not see it. Would not see it. There was too much else looming before them both.

She had much strength they could borrow, and an irreplaceable knowledge of the Empire and its workings. She knew the terrain, she knew the cities, she knew the people. She could get them in and back out again, and had control of powers he had only glimpsed during his time protecting Terra. All the strength and power of his young charge with the focus and training to make her deadly.

He had the connections to get her in with the resistance; the ear of the young king and the woman she had known as Kefka's prized puppet, now free and recovering and their tentative secret weapon. He gave her the chance she needed to prove herself, her strength, and she would, with all the training of a General and the Emperor's personal Rune Knight to fuel her blows.

Too much was riding on the future for them to see what had begun.

It was the start of their fighting chance against the Empire.

It was the start of her new lease on life.

Both were slow, but in time, they finally began to see.

He found himself unable to look away more and more often, her presence a salve to his wounded heart. She could never replace what he had lost, but she could be more.

She couldn't get him out of her mind and the more she focused on him, the more she questioned if she really wanted to. He made her feel like nothing before had ever done.

It was a start, and it was the beginning of everything.


	3. Curiosity

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Locke and Celes

- WoR

* * *

><p>Prompt: Curiosity<p>

* * *

><p>His hand shifted slowly across her back, crawling from the far shoulder it rested on back towards him. The pose had been purely natural in its inception; his arm had been draped across the back of the couch he lounged in before she had sat beside him. Her weight settling against him had curled it slightly around her, his hand coming to rest casually on her shoulder in a soft grip. By the time their companions had joined them for the strategy meeting, neither had given it any thought.<p>

Somehow, they kept coming back to that position. Each time he leaned in to make a point, or look at the maps spread across the low, scarred table they had recovered and now monopolized for such meetings, he returned his arm around her unconsciously as he settled back into his seat. When she was gesturing at the others gathered and the charts before them, she leaned forward, but would always fall back against him, sometimes shaking her head in frustration, other times with a pleased smirk gracing her lips. It was comfortable, and reassuring to know that the other was there, after everything that had happened to them since their first fateful meeting in the bowels of South Figaro.

The meeting had just adjourned as yawns threatened to overtake more than the two sleeping children, leaving Locke and Celes alone in the quiet room, him contemplating the woman beside him and her lost in thought about their search plans.

And so, as his hand travelled as quickly as he dared toward the center of her back, and specifically the golden tresses draped there, Celes was slow to realize that Locke was moving at all. When it did hit her, she turned her head towards him and fixed him with the blankest stare she could muster, one thin eyebrow perked in curiosity.

Realizing that his peculiar behaviour had been recognized, but not necessarily fully understood, Locke flashed her a disarming smile and tried in vain to free his hand from its twist into her hair. Unfortunately, moving her head had pulled her hair tight enough to tug on his errant fingers, effectively ratting him out.

"You know," Celes said breezily, "most men strive to put their arms around the woman, not remove them." She kept her face impassive, but humor shone brightly in her eyes. "Dare I ask what you're doing?"

He smiled guiltily, giving in and leaning close to use his other hand to help free his tangled digits. His cheeks were touched with the rosy dusting of embarrassment when he finally met her gaze and answered. "I was curious."

"Hmm?"

"I was just wondering if your hair was as soft as it looked," he admitted, grumbling as he finally unwound his prison from his hand. Her answering laughter assured him that he would have all the time in the world to slake his interest.


	4. Dream

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

_Sorry to the lovely people who reviewed who I told MONTHS ago that I would continue updating these. I kept putting off reinstalling Office because I go through waves of hating everything I write every now and then and literally want nothing to do with any stories I've written. -KK_

- Locke and Celes

- WoR? (Probably, for that level of closeness)

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><p>Prompt: Dream<p>

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><p>Night was not usually a pleasant time for Celes. Too often, she found herself jerked awake by a terror of her past, her body and sheets soaked in sweat, chilled by the air of the dark bedroom.<p>

During the day, she could throw herself into their preparations and planning, focus on meetings and training and mastering the magics so willingly bestowed by the lingering knowledge in the magicite they had received thus far. She found safety in the light of dawn, focusing on the present and planning for the future, the next day, the next attack, and what would follow. In the waking hours, too many people needed her attention, her expertise, to leave her time to remember the past, what she had seen and what she had done.

In the cold dark of night was when it all fell apart. Not long after drifting to sleep, her mind would remember, would bring back all the times she tried to forget. Over and over again, she would relive the torching of the countryside in Maranda, the stern face of the Emperor as he declared her a traitor for speaking out against Kefka's plans for Doma, imaginings of the augmentation during her infancy. In her dreams, she was forced to recall the faces of all the soldiers she had led and lost, and those who had exalted at the chance to cage and beat her during her travels to and tenure at South Figaro for the execution that never came. Time and again, her dreams tortured and trapped her, bearing witness to the darkest parts of her past, the most tattered corners of her damaged soul.

She awoke screaming, tear tracks already drying upon her snow-white cheeks. Terra merely rolled over in her bed, but Setzer sat up, staring intently at her until he saw Locke was making his way across the darkened Inn bedroom to her side. In moments he had his arms around her, rocking her gently as one hand stroked her hair and back. She shook like a leaf, but had fallen silent with shame as soon as she was aware once more, and Setzer considered that all the cue he needed to return to his own repose. Soft reassurances were crooned in her ears as Locke held her close, muttered nonsenses about how everything was alright when she knew it wasn't, would never be.

She was a paragon of strength in the day, a source of hope and vitality for the others, but as the nights drew on, she felt it all crumble away and she hated it, hated what her own mind turned her into.

She would never be able to make up for what she had done, and she would never be able to forget, for her dreams would always remember.


	5. Earth

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Locke and Celes

- Post-game

* * *

><p>Prompt: Earth<p>

* * *

><p>Locke loves getting dirty.<p>

It's not that Celes is outwardly opposed to it, she certainly would never shriek and dust herself off or any such nonsense, but she doesn't actively seek it out the same way he does, nor is she sure she fully understand _why_ he does.

And oh does Locke seek it out.

There's little he loves more than going on a zany adventure in the messiest places. Climbing cliffs, crawling through caves, scaling trees, wading through swamps... if there's a legend and a mess, he's there.

She's called him out on it before, citing a belief that he never finished growing up, or that he'll purposely find the vilest nooks and crannies to search, only to get a boyish grin in return as he scratches the back of his head and dives on into his newest source of dirt. She rolls her eyes and gamely follows, reminding herself that not everyone grew up in a towering city of technology and that maybe, just maybe, her view of the situation might be the skewed one.

There's always a little extra bounce in his step when they reach a new obstacle to crawl over or under or squeeze around, smearing him with the marks of his journey as he charges ahead of her. He revels in the struggle as it paints him with sweat and dirt and she's finding that it's something she loves about him.

And yet, somehow, it all pales in comparison to him excitedly showing off his newly obtained relic of the past, carefully cleaned and a stark contrast to the filth that coats him. The sun is bright and the grass is soft on the hillside where they're reclined as he explains the history of his precious find, listening to her hums of appreciation and smelling the wind and the grass and the cool earth beneath them and all over them both.


	6. Endings

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Celes

- Start of the WoR

* * *

><p>Prompt: Endings<p>

* * *

><p>Never before had the world looked so bleak.<p>

They had failed, utterly.

Their world was dead, dying, stripped of any dignity by the same madman that had haunted her childhood; the lunacy she had feared in her adolescence and the awe-inspiring raw power of the triad having coalesced into something far more sinister.

She had been completely useless for the last year, her body barely sustaining itself through her powers as it drew in the magic that now saturated the very air. The efforts to keep her safe and healthy on this barren island had drained the only family she had ever known of the last of his meager strength, and her feeble attempts to return him to health had proved futile.

As the cold pain of reality had settled in her gut, she had torn from the ratty shack. Tears the likes of which she had never cried before stained her cheeks as her whole being was focused on getting away, removing herself as far as she could from the deathly still reminder of her loss. Even now, they continued to the flow as the air whipped her hair around, the wind up on the bluffs a mournful howl as Cid's words repeated in her head over and over and over as she realized the likelihood that her companions, and possibly the entire world, were as dead as the beloved old man she had been unable to save.

She longed to hear the voice of another, the sounds to prove that someone was there. The verbal silence was deafening, and she did what she could, fleeing it in the most final was possible as she spread her arms and let herself go.

She strove in vain to recall Terra's timid giggles, Setzer's proud boasts, the spark in Edgar's tone as he delivered a truly banal line, the warmth of Locke's voice as he whispered in her ear, and the sound of Sabin's hearty laughter. They were lost to her, just as much as Cyan's somber discourses, Gau's excited exclamations, Shadow's poignant silences, Mog's high chatter, Strago's worried chastisements, and Relm's playful teasing. All of it, gone.

All she could hear was the wind rushing in her ears as she closed her eyes and waited for the darkness promised by the waves below to claim her.


	7. Family

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Locke and Celes

- Post-game

* * *

><p>Prompt: Family<p>

* * *

><p>Locke felt the two ladies in his arms start to stir, and it he roused from the doze that had settled over him as he'd lain there, drinking in the peace after the hectic morning. He'd been a fool to think he'd be calm just because he knew a significant amount about births from helping his mother in his youth; everything was different when it was the woman you loved in pain, your own child on the verge of breathing her first breaths. The midwife had assured him he'd been quite calm and helpful compared to most men, but he'd still felt utterly useless as he watched Celes' face contort in agony, anger, and the worst: fear.<p>

Celes gave him a weak, sleepy smile as she begun to nurse their daughter, and he was unable to wipe the frown at his thoughts from his face before she saw. Her only inquiry was a raised brow, which actually made him feel worse for some reason.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, his words getting lost in her hair as he leaned his head against her own.

She chuckled softly and nudged at him with one of her legs. "It's not your fault I had no idea what was happening; I still can't believe I thought something was wrong." She sighed. "You were right; I should have spent more time in town, speaking with one of the midwives or other mothers, since I clearly had no idea about what was going to occur."

Locke had been out back, chopping some wood for the stove in the early morning when the prebirth had begun, awakening Celes and taking her completely by surprise. She had screamed at the top of her lungs, bordering on a full panic and ordering him into town; the haunted look in her eyes had gifted strength to his legs and lungs and he ran hell for leather through the woods and into town, nursing a nasty stitch as he tried to explain to the midwife what had occurred... then realizing he'd barely assessed the situation before leaving.

The ride back in the old woman's cart had been blissfully short; his body was too wired and exhausted at once to betray him with motion sickness. He could feel some of his tension flood out of him as he and the woman entered the bedroom and she began giving him orders, stating that Celes was ready to deliver the baby. Seeing Celes slump back against the pillows in relief at her words was a balm to his frayed nerves; he only learned for certain later that she'd thought she was losing the child, unable to recognize the signs for what they were.

She removed him from his reverie, bringing him back to the present by leaning her head back against his shoulder while she adjusted the feeding child in her arms. "You know," she began, her eyes closed and her face the calmest he'd seen all day, "it's Cid's fault. He neglected to teach me much of anything about sexuality. It's a miracle I even knew how to make a child."

He contemplated reminding her that the pregnancy had been accidental. (An unplanned surprise he'd never want undone for anything, now that he had held his daughter in his arms, her bright eyes like her mother's staring up at him.) He figured it wasn't worth seeing if she could muster the strength to hit him for such an off-color remark during a tender moment.

Besides, they had all the time in the world to prove that they really could do it right when they set their minds to it.


	8. Familiar

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Locke and Celes

- Destruction of the WoB

* * *

><p>Prompt: Familiar<p>

* * *

><p>Some would have you believe that there is comfort to be found in the familiar, but Locke knew those people to be fools.<p>

As the world quite literally crumbled and collapsed around them and they fell toward the sea with the wreckage of what used to be Setzer's Blackjack, he felt a familiar hand of ice settle around his heart and squeeze as he reached out with all he was worth yet failed to catch Celes.

She's taken a blow to the head and was falling uncontrollably, her hair flapping wildly in the winds of decent that tore around them and there was nothing he could do to stop it, to save her from the watery grave that approached them at startling speeds.

For all his efforts, he couldn't even reach her, leaving him unable to face the end by her side. Bitter tears burned at his eyes as he was ripped away by the buffeting air when another chunk of debris sailed past between them, causing him to lose sight of her.

This feeling of helplessness, of sorrow, of unending pain; this feeling was absurdly familiar...

and oh how he hated it.


	9. Fear

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Locke and Celes

- Locke and Celes' ending scene

* * *

><p>Prompt: Fear<p>

* * *

><p>Nothing would ever compare to the stab to his heart he felt when he glanced back at her startled cry and saw her slip from sight.<p>

She called his name in panic as her footing disappeared suddenly, abruptly dropping her down.

_NO!_

He moved purely by instinct, throwing himself to the ragged metal ledge and reaching blindly for her. He couldn't lose her, not like that, not ever. Her slender hand met with his, a firm, strong grip that did much to allay his first wave of terror. Daring to look down at her, at the abyss she dangled over, his eyes were a deep brown with emotion when they locked onto hers, full of declarations he'd never fully voiced. "I'm not letting go..." he said, bracing himself the best he could against the metal plating his body laid upon, "I promise!"

Accepting his words, the fear in her eyes melted into determination and she nodded, reaching up with her other hand to grab him tightly around the wrist. He did his best to pull her back and up, nearly tumbling off the edge with her more than once as the whole structure shook around them, pieces falling on and around his perilous perch. He barely had the foresight to lock his ankles around a ripped up lip of metal before the plate he laid upon crumpled down to a steep angle, threatening to drop him off the front end once more. The jostling descent nearly wrenched his shoulder from its joint, but gave her an avenue of attack for climbing up, one she took full advantage of in a hurry. She griped some tangled wiring and was nearly halfway upon the slanted platform, Locke's arm having wound around her shoulders to pull her up, when a crumbling boulder slammed into the back and wrenched it loose.

Summoning a strength he never knew he could manage, and would likely never be able to tap into again, Locke gripped her close and took a running leap, carrying himself and his precious cargo to relative safety on the nearest solid expanse of malformed metal and rock. He had just enough time to set Celes on her feet and grab for her hand, noticing for the first time the tattered cloth held tightly in her fist.

"Are you crazy!" he called, tugging her behind him as he followed their companions further from the collapsing wreckage behind them. "You almost- for a stupid thing like that!" He shot her a rueful glare for giving him such a fright over such an insignificant trinket, and prayed with all his might that they would make it safely to the Falcon, would all make it out of this hell-storm alive.

Mementos could be replaced or even forgotten, lives could not.


	10. Fire

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Celes

- WoB, during the joint mission to Thamasa

* * *

><p>Prompt: Fire<p>

* * *

><p>Celes heard about the fire that demolished the mansion the following morning, well after her... <em>former<em> companions had proved themselves heroes for rescuing the young village girl. She made a tight fist and pounded it against the sturdy table in her room at the Inn, livid that the old man had awoken Lo... the Returners but not her and Leo.

The thought of them rushing into danger without her, especially when she was so well suited to protection from fire and magic in general, was infuriating. Trying to calm herself, she reasoned that the old man (Strago, was it?) would have no way of knowing of her ice affinity, but HE certainly would have! She seethed, absently rubbing at her newly sore hand.

Glaring at the offending table, Celes admitted to herself that it was juvenile to avoid so much as thinking his name, and took a deep breath. Exhaling, she rolled her eyes at herself and sneered, glancing around to be sure the room was well and truly empty before whispering, "...Locke."

Petulant about being slighted she may be, but he was still the bigger idiot for refusing to call for her aid the previous night. Honestly! He could have gotten himself, Terra, that poor little girl, and her grandfather all killed trying to play the hero. From everything she understood, he nearly had and indeed would have had Shadow not intervened and saved them all.

Terra was powerful, and Locke was certainly brave, but neither of them had any experience with rescue missions, at least not that she knew about. As weary as she still was of the Empire, she had to admit that she was well trained, just as Leo was. Grimacing at a sudden flood of memory, she tried to ignore that Terra being roughly her age was a large part of how she knew so very much about battling fire magic and burning fires with her powers. The road to becoming a Rune Knight was certainly brutal, but it had left her powerful.

The Empire... If she hadn't been reassured by her messenger that the whole event had been an accident, the fault of the grand mansion's inhabitants, she would have guessed that a plot were afoot to ruin the expedition. She was beyond suspicious of the Emperor; too easily had he welcomed her back into his service after the debacle with Kefka at the Cid's Laboratory. Lacking any proof, she had no way to sway Leo away from his duty, despite her nagging fear that a noble and honest man such at him was likely to be a target, and soon. And so, she acted as though Gestahl's 'forgiveness' was a great boon, and that she was grateful beyond words to once again bear her title of General. Leo seemed none the wiser to any of it.

Something was clearly off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Whether the focus was herself, Leo, Terra, or perhaps even the Espers themselves, she did not know.

For now, she would wait, and watch.

And hope that idiot didn't get himself killed by being a hothead before they had a chance to talk to one another.


	11. Friends

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Celes, Edgar, Setzer, Terra, Cyan, Sabin

- WoR

* * *

><p>Prompt: Friends<p>

* * *

><p>It was an odd feeling, having people you would fight for, would die for, entirely by choice. Her soldiers had always been her responsibility and she had done all she could for them as a commander. They had returned the same respect and loyalty to her, but it was a different situation entirely. Units in a military were assigned together, orders forced them to watch out for one another and if they were lucky, bonds would form.<p>

But this, this was different.

Chance had thrown them all together and something... something she had trouble ever putting into words had held them there.

Taking refuge in Figaro Castle while they tried to theorize where more of their companions - _their friends_ - might have been, she felt such easy acceptance from the group circling the table with her... even from Cyan. Terra reached out from her seat next to her and took her hand, squeezing it fondly and flashing her a small smile.

"We'll find them," she proclaimed, gesturing to the rough map of how the world now looked, "we'll find them all."

The old samurai looked up at them and nodded sagely, "Our _nakama_ are strong," he attested, using the archaic word from his homeland that had so much meaning attached to it. "They will have survived, as we have."

Setzer agreed, raising his glass of wine as he lounged in his plush chair, waving a hand over the map as Terra had. "It's only a matter of finding where the winds of fate have taken them in these long months." He finished the glass and held it out toward the head of the table, where Edgar retained the bottle.

The King refilled the gambler's glass, as well as his own, and repeated the toasting action as he too spoke up. "Each and every one of them is too stubborn to die; we'll just have to figure out where to locate them. We set out at dawn for Jidoor to look for any signs of our friends." He leaned over across the table and topped off her own dwindled goblet with a smirk as he motioned for her to drink as well.

Sabin grinned broadly and punched a fist into his hand as he nodded enthusiastically. "Edgar's right. They're all out there, and we're going to find them. Then we're all going to go take Kefka down a few pegs and stop all this nonsense, once and for all."

"Yes," Celes agreed, raising her glass and smiling serenely back at the faces all turned to her, "we will."


	12. Garden

Final Fantasy VI and its characters are © Square-Enix. I'm just borrowing them for our enjoyment.

- Celes

- Post-game

* * *

><p>Prompt: Garden<p>

* * *

><p>Celes eyed the patch of freshly turned dirt as she stood, both weary and excited about the possibilities it presented. He hands were filthy, she was covered in sweat and stains, but if all went well, she had just helped create life.<p>

She obviously knew how plants grew and lived in the most rudimentary manner, for Cid's lessons had certainly been thorough, but never had she herself helped in the planting process. Locke had been an all too eager tutor, showing her the best way to dig holes and space the various vegetable seeds they had procured. It was strangely exhilarating in its simplicity, gratifying to create instead of destroy.

Stooping to gather her tools, she reverently trailed her fingers once more across the soft, tilled ground, proud of her work. Now, all that remained was learning to cook better by the time they could reap the benefits of their labors, she thought with a chuckle. While she could cook meat on a spit well enough after years of hunting experiences, she was still learning the rest of the ways to prepare food, not always with the most... alluring of results… though she was proving to be the more skilled of the two by a frighteningly significant margin. Thankfully, Locke was an understanding assistant, and by pooling their knowledge they were eating well enough to survive as they bumbled their way through new recipes the town's women had gratefully shared with her.

She stopped for a moment as she was making her way back to their quaint house, taking in the view and marveling at the beauty of the thinly wooded area he had decided to build upon. A nearby thick copse of trees provided ample lumber and fruits, and the ground spread between the remaining smatterings of trees was rich and fertile. Squinting at the horizon, she could just barely make out the nearby river, icy cold still at this time of year. They were far enough from the main city to have access to fresh game and ample land, but close enough that the journey to town was easy. With time, more families would sprout up and spread out from Kohlingen's capitol, and the city would become even closer to them as its boundaries stretched.

Casting a last wistful glance at the garden, she fumbled the door open with her laden arms and entered the beautiful little house. Nice at it was, it was built **for** her, by Locke and many of the other men from the town before she had arrived; the modest garden, carefully fenced, was something she had made from start to finish. It was her own little touch of creation. She knew they would be setting out again at some point, but for now, this was home, and it was lovely.

Pulling her grass-stained and dirt-spotted shirt off and using it to mop her forehead, she eyed the freshly filled bathing tub with longing. Warm hands and arms soon wrapped around her waist from behind, and as kisses began to pepper her neck and shoulders, she wondered idly if she wouldn't have another brush with creation today.


End file.
